Clear distinction between DQ performances for consenting adults and inappropriate sexualised performances in front of children.

@OldCrone @YetAnotherSpartacus
Those photos are horrific. Gob-smackingly so.

Revolting men - we see them for exactly what they are.
I hope the latter was charged with indecency offences and the former takes his razor sharp glitter and fucks off to the far side of fuck.

The one in the stripy outfit is Aida H Dee who does DQSH events in the UK.

I think the one who forgot his underwear was in the US.

This one freaks me out.

I know. Where did that happen and what happened to those men?

It's two men taking different routes to display their genitals to children.

Wtaf is that? @OldCrone 😲

It's not for the children. It's for the benefit of the performers. Why else would a man want to wear a skin-tight costume, or 'forget' to put any underwear on when reading a story to children?

This

I also used to run a story time session at our library - all voluntary and not plastered all over SM coz y know, it wasn't all about me - and I'm quite sure if I'd rocked up dressed as some individuals who do DQ StoryTime I'd have been challenged by library staff and parents

But when a man does it hey! It's all glittery inclusivity

I'm wondering if there is a verified and fact-checked list of drag queen storytime presenters (in any country) who have been convicted of sexual offences anywhere?

This X 1000 !

Actually it's even more surprising when you consider some OAPs would be quite into burlesque. They'd have a good old cackle. And it's a captive audience.

Mystery isn't it?

I don't disagree that it's not particularly necessary or appropriate to make this sort of stuff formal, but I do think kids will notice and assimilate things like, for example, Lauren the librarian being met from work by her girlfriend/wife Sarah. The more they see this sort of diversity and realise that it's all normal/equal/OK, the better, I think.

It’s about normalising drag. Nothing to do with LGB.

I have a hard time envisioning that. Come on down to Lesbian Story Time?

Lots of people, men and women, working in libraries are gay or lesbian, and that's not new.

But it's not really something they particularly are going to announce to the kids. It's generally not appropriate, it does nothing to make a better story time, and more than that, the kids don't care, and probably won't remember.

I think sometimes people have an unrealistic sense of how much kids at that age have organized thinking about social topics.

Buried under a pile of glitter shed from the jumpsuit of a drag queen who's knackers are visible.

If you haven't seen it, you can still save yourself.

If it's about encouraging LGBT acceptance where is the carefully thought out programme of gay, lesbian, bisexual and yes trans identifying people, who have been CRB checked and actually had some training in how to be engaging with children?

How do kids exposed to this, even if it’s not a twerking predator getting dollar bills stuffed in his G string, but a nice pleasant story from a normal person in drag, gain any education other than “some men dress funny to read stories”?

I am sick to the back teeth of/opposed to the kind of drag acts we're talking about here doing kids' storytime; but I have to say that I think having, say, a person who's obviously a man but is wearing a dress or make-up doing it is fine. Not AMAZING, or brave, or any of the other usual breathless accolades; I just think it's fine – healthy in fact – for kids to see and learn that people don't have to dress or present in a certain way because of their sex.

Having said that, I do concur with others' experiences and opinions that we still have a lot of ground to make up when it comes to just a man, in male-coded clothes and appearance, quietly getting on with storytime just as women do.

I still remember the man who read stories at the local library in the small town we were living in when oldest two DC were toddlers, so 14 years ago. His name was Tim, he was lovely, so sweet and calm and the kids loved him. It was a great little weekly outing.

I’m still waiting to hear from any of the defenders of DQSH what the actual benefits are for children.

It's so narcissistic.

I'd love to see a librarian with 20 years of experience getting kids into books and doing the Tuesday morning rhyme time be given the amount of fanfare and fawning these men are given.

Yawn.

And they ought to be educators or at the very least very child-friendly.

I’m not sure how an adult ‘act’ (because let’s face it, I’ve never seen a drag Queen on the tills at Tesco or doing my taxes) - and probably without experience of wrangling their own kids or trained to work with kids (looking at some of the safeguarding fails I have heard about) can engage fully with children and actually teach them anything. It’s all about them isn’t it?

BabyStopCryin
Oh that's good to hear - some men are so well suited to working with small kids, it's a shame it's traditionally such a female-dominated field. And yes, it's about the reading and the delivery and the KIDS, not the reader's outfit or makeup or identity. Kids don't care about any of that. They just want to hear a good story. This is so much about other people's needs it's ridiculous.

I saw a male nursery assistant do a brilliant story time with an enthralled group of 2-4 year olds. He was brilliant - he had trained as an actor before going into childcare, and I’m sure the children learned more from his animal impressions, his accents, sound effects… than some scary person in sparkly clothes and a beard encouraging them to twerk…

I would have been equally terrified and outraged if I was a child having an obvious man saying he was ‘Miss Story time’ or whatever. I - like a lot of small kids - had absolutely no trick with ‘fibbers’ when I was little, and would call people out very loudly.

I don't particularly see how presenting gay men as weirdos with ridiculous clothing and bizarrely exaggerated mannerisms is supposed to foster inclusive attitudes towards homosexuality, personally.

razor sharp glitter and deadly death drops

Oh dear, such a lot of self-righteous male anger - they’re getting very upset that we see right through them, aren’t they. Glitter just hoovers up and goes straight in the bin.